Sam Harris on Palin: average isn't good enough

Sam Harris sums up pretty well my thoughts and opinions about this election and how the American people have come to settle for so little. The dumbing-down of America seems unstoppable. I may not be here to witness it, but "Rome" will fall once again.

"As many people have noted, placing Palin on the ticket has made these final months of the already overlong 2008 campaign much more interesting. Is Palin remotely qualified to be president of the United States? No. But that's precisely what is so interesting. McCain not only has thrown all sensible concerns about good governance aside merely to pander to a sliver of female and masses of conservative Christian voters, he has turned this period of American history into an episode of high-stakes reality television: Don't look now, but our cousin Sarah just became leader of the free world! Tune in next week and watch her get sassy with Pakistan!

Americans have an unhealthy desire to see average people promoted to positions of great authority. No one wants an average neurosurgeon or even an average carpenter, but when it comes time to vest a man or woman with more power and responsibility than any person has held in human history, Americans say they want a regular guy, someone just like themselves. President Bush kept his edge on the "Who would you like to have a beer with?" poll question in 2004, and won reelection.

This is one of the many points at which narcissism becomes indistinguishable from masochism. Let me put it plainly: If you want someone just like you to be president of the United States, or even vice president, you deserve whatever dysfunctional society you get. You deserve to be poor, to see the environment despoiled, to watch your children receive a fourth-rate education and to suffer as this country wages -- and loses -- both necessary and unnecessary wars.

McCain has so little respect for the presidency of the United States that he is willing to put the girl next door (soon, too, to be a grandma) into office beside him. He has so little respect for the average American voter that he thinks this reckless and cynical ploy will work.

And it might. Palin's nomination has clearly excited Christian conservatives, and it may entice a few million gender-obsessed fans of Hillary Clinton to vote entirely on the basis of chromosomes. Throw in a few million more average Americans who will just love how the nice lady smiles, and 2009 could be a very interesting year.

Tune in next week and watch cousin Sarah fuss with our nuclear arsenal ... ."~ Sam Harris

Read Sam's article here at Atheist Nation via this link:

Sam Harris on Palin: average isn't good enough

Reality tv politics

"As many people have noted, placing Palin on the ticket has made these final months of the already overlong 2008 campaign much more interesting. Is Palin remotely qualified to be president of the United States? No. But that's precisely what is so interesting. McCain not only has thrown all sensible concerns about good governance aside merely to pander to a sliver of female and masses of conservative Christian voters, he has turned this period of American history into an episode of high-stakes reality television: Don't look now, but our cousin Sarah just became leader of the free world! Tune in next week and watch her get sassy with Pakistan!" ~ Sam Harris

SNL Clinton V. Palin

For those who haven't seen this or who want to see it again, this is great.

Milky Way Road Trip

This is absolutely magnificent.

click on image to enlargeCredit & Copyright: Tunç Tezel (TWAN)

Explanation: In search of planets and the summer Milky Way, astronomer Tunç Tezel took an evening road trip. Last Saturday, after driving the winding road up Uludag, a mountain near Bursa, Turkey, he was rewarded by this beautiful skyview to the south. Near the center, bright planet Jupiter outshines the city lights below and the stars of the constellation Sagittarius. Above the mountain peaks, an arcing cloud bank seems to lead to the Milky Way's own cloudy apparition plunging into the distant horizon. In Turkish, Uludag means Great Mountain. Uludag was known in ancient times as the Mysian Olympus.

Saturday funny from our creative friends at Internet Weekly

Don't tell me my Republican lurkers that this doesn't make you chuckle to yourself:

Pigism

When will all the circus sideshows end on both sides and get to the business of debating and discussing the issues and ANSWERING QUESTIONS WITH STRAIGHT ANSWERS? The "Straight-Talk Express" has been derailed by paparazzi style reporting and sensationalistic drama. Obama is struggling to redirect the audience attention back to himself. My friends in other countries are enjoying it as much if not more than their favorite reality television programs. In many ways, there isn't much if a difference.

Quote of the day

The radical religious right has succeeded in taking over one of America's great political parties. The country is not yet a theocracy but the Republican Party is, and they are driving American politics, using God as a battering ram on almost every issue: crime and punishment, foreign policy, health care, taxation, energy, regulation, social services and so on." -- Bill Moyers

Palin's Churches and the Holy Laughter anointing

Palin is not a moderate Chrisitian. The way she talks, the rhetoric she uses and her deliverance is total fundamentalist Christian. She is of a crazy-ass cult denomination...and a dominionist:

From Bruce Wilson at Huffington Post (I’ve provided a few links):

Sarah Palin's churches are actively involved in a resurgent movement that was declared heretical by the Assemblies of God in 1949. This is the same 'Spiritual Warfare' movement that was featured in the award winning movie, "Jesus Camp," which showed young children being trained to do battle for the Lord. At least three of four of Palin's churches are involved with major organizations and leaders of this movement, which is referred to as The Third Wave of the Holy Spirit or the New Apostolic Reformation. The movement is training a young "Joel's Army" to take dominion over the United States and the world.

Along with her entire family, Sarah Palin was re-baptized at twelve at the Wasilla Assembly of God in Wasilla, Alaska and she attended the church from the time she was ten until 2002: over two and 1/2 decades. Sarah Palin's extensive pattern of association with the Wasilla Assembly of God has continued nearly up to the day she was picked by Senator John McCain as a vice-presidential running mate. Palin's dedication to the Wasilla church is indicated by a Saturday, September 7, 2008, McClatchy news service story detailing possibly improper use of state travel funds by Palin for a trip she made to Wasilla, Alaska to attend, on June 8, 2008, both a Wasilla Assembly of God "Masters Commission" graduation ceremony and also a multi-church Wasilla area event known as "One Lord Sunday." At the latter event, Palin and Alaska LT Governor Scott Parnell were publicly blessed, onstage before an estimated crowd of 6,000, through the "laying on of hands" by Wasilla Assembly of God's Head Pastor Ed Kalnins whose sermons espouse such theological concepts as the possession of geographic territories by demonic spirits and the inter-generational transmission of family "curses". Palin has also been blessed, or "anointed," by an African cleric, prominent in the Third Wave movement, who has repeatedly visited the Wasilla Assembly of God and claims to have effected positive, dramatic social change in a Kenyan town by driving out a "spirit of witchcraft."

The Wasilla Assembly of God church is deeply involved with both Third Wave activities and theology. Their Master's Commission program is part of an three year post-high school international training program with studies in prophecy, intercessory prayer, Biblical exegesis, authority and leadership. The pastor, Ed Kalnins, and Masters Commission students have traveled to South Carolina to participate in a "prophetic conference" at Morningstar Ministries, one of the major ministries of the Third Wave movement. Becky Fischer was a pastor at Morningstar prior to being featured in the movie "Jesus Camp." The head of prophecy at Morningstar, Steve Thompson, is currently scheduled to do a prophecy seminar at the Wasilla Assembly of God. Other major leaders in the movement have also traveled to Wasilla to visit and speak at the church.

(More at Huffington Post under Bruce Wilson's page.)

Sarah Palin And Republican Hypocrisy

Just read this headline at MSN’s mainpage. The media continues to perpetuate the god shit instead of emphasizing GET THE HELL OUT OF THE AREA:



As Ike storm surge begins, ‘it’s time for prayers’

GALVESTON, Texas - Hurricane Ike rumbled through the Gulf of Mexico as a 350-mile-wide monster Friday toward the Texas coast, led by a massive storm surge that was already flooding homes many hours before the main event was to begin. Texas Gov. Rick Perry said authorities had done everything they could to evacuate more than 1.2 million people from the coast and “now it’s time for prayers.”

Perry said the hurricane could cause more than $100 billion of damage, making it the worst natural disaster in U.S. history, while Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who called the storm “potentially catastrophic,” warned that as many as 100,000 homes could be flooded.

My heart does go out for victims of natural disasters. And “praying” is just saying as Gov. Perry says that they have done everything they can do. But when will anyone ever say that people must use their brains and common sense in order to have a chance to survive these things because that is what it actually takes . . . human survival skills.

Prayer will not stop a hurricane or any other forces of nature beyond our control.

When “prayers are answered in Florida, for instance and the hurricane changes course, what about the prayers of those in the new path of inevitable disaster?

To the news media, STOP THIS PRAYER BULLCRAP and encourage people to follow evacuation orders to get the hell out of the storm’s path. Homes can be replaced, things can be replaced but no god will save your life.

Other things that have been done is the national guard and rescue units are on alert ready to help clean up and help the ones who chose to stay and pray.

Palin Asked On Bush Doctrine - Stumbles On Answer

Palin hasn't had any answers to the important questions yet, only hems and haws while in her brain she is thinking "darn, darn, double darn! Why didn't I study more before coming out here!" Did she think that running for the VP position was going to be a cakewalk? The next several weeks are going to be pathetically comical with Obama's "ummms and stutterings" and Palin's cutsie sorority girl giggly evasivions. She brings back memories of me standing around talking to all of the soccer moms and band moms when our kids were in school jabbering away how wonderful our kids are, talking about community and family baloney, shooting the breeze (as the men would call it). But doesn't it worry anyone that she cannot have a serious discussion, cannot answer difficult questions and doesn't have any thoughts of her own?

"Tooling it up" for Sarah Palin

We keep being told that Palin isn't running for president, that she is only running as McCain's sidekick, however, as someone has said, she will be "one melonoma away from the presidency." It seems that Gramps McLame found someone to take over the spotlight for him so he could go back to his rocking chair and let the focus be on her instead of him while she is being coached by the GOP in the fine art of bullshit propaganda and question evading.

Campbell Brown interviews Tucker Bounds on Sarah Palin’s national security experience and Tucker just keeps evading her questions which is pretty much how her supporters respond when it comes to her lack of experience. Palin keeps spouting off about her experience as “commander and chief” of Alaska’s National Guard and Tucker brings it up too in this interview with Campbell, but he never does state even one order she has given to the Alaska National Guard in times of crisis since she has been governor.



As we reflect on the incidents which happened on 9-11-2001, I hope that voters will really think about who they are going to entrust with our national security but my cynicism tells me that the evangelicals will blindly vote for their party of God candidates once again just because they have the same fundamentalist god beliefs, or that they believe it will expedite the end-of-times and the great Armageddon or whatever. How can people believe this is the greatest nation in the western world when more than half of our population are morons?

And then this one:

Sarah Palin says the war is from God and it’s gods plan

Sarah Palin loves Jeezus—”the real deal” believer

The Huffington Post reported:

“Speaking before the Pentecostal church, Palin painted the current war in Iraq as a messianic affair in which the United States could act out the will of the Lord.”

“‘Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending out on a task that is from God,’ she exhorted the congregants. ‘That’s what we have to make sure that we’re praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God’s plan.’”

“Religion, however, was not strictly a thread in Palin’s foreign policy. It was part of her energy proposals as well. Just prior to discussing Iraq, Alaska’s governor asked the audience to pray for another matter — a $30 billion national gas pipeline project that she wanted built in the state. ‘I think God’s will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that,’ she said.”

This video is from HuffingtonPost.com, broadcast September 2, 2008.

And we were worried about McCain choosing FHuckabee.

Sarah Palin's Kooky Cult Church

911 Remembered

Since being laid up again after yet another surgery, I have been watching the news a lot and getting my BP up about this Palin and lipstick on a pig bullcrap. Then today was watching the remembrances of 911 and the scenes are just as horrific now as they were the day it happened. I think of all the folks who went to work as usual and unknowingly to their horrible end.

I was watching Shrub give his dedication speech for the memorial at the Pentagon and he said he prayed that Gob would bless this nation and I would love to ask him a question…a one-word question…”why?” Why should a god bless us while allowing us to kill thousands of innocent people in a land that had nothing to do with our attackers on 911? And why didn’t his God if he was all powerful and willing to bless us now not stop the terrorist from killing all those people who were just going to work to make a living for themselves and their families?

Bush went on to say how we have not had an attack on our country in the past 7 years, as if that is some big personal achievement for him and his party. He, of course conveniently left out the fact that we had not had an attack on our nation in the 7 years previous to him stealing the election from Al Gore. He fails to acknowledge that we had not had an attack on our own soil since Pearl Harbor. He wants to paint himself as some sort of hero when the fact is that he was a total stupified idiot, sitting there reading a children’s book while blinking his eyes and the look on his face what “wtf are they saying to me?” Then he retaliated against the wrong country because his imaginary friend told him to, Bin Laden is still at large and the terrorists are still out there doing who knows what and no god is going to bless us, no god is going to protect us . . . we need a leader and military leaders to do that and McCain/ Palin would be a catastrophic commander in chief team Half of this country have not learned anything since 911. The go with who looks prettiest, who can make them “feel good” about themselves instead of who can really lead.

Sarah Palin Exposed

Can't help but chuckle at this one!

Republican Definition of Change

Stephen Colbert tells us the Republicans are the real agents of "change".

'Heaven's brothel': Muslim cleric fantasizes about virgins in Heaven

This dude needs a few buckets of cold water dumped on him.


And yes, it's real. Saudi Cleric Omar Al-Sweilem Extols the Breasts and Thighs of the Black-Eyed Virgins of Paradise

"Creation Science" enters the race

Good gawd! This election keeps getting more and more bizarre! And for those who say they aren't worried about it, you should be! The more IDiots who get elected makes it more and more likely that watchdog attempts to keep theocracy at bay will become more and more difficult.

Republican Sarah Palin says she thinks creationism should be taught alongside evolution in the state’s public classrooms — that she would not have a problem with that. She is the only candidate who has come out and said this. According to the Anchorage Daily News, back in 2006 Palin was answering a question from the moderator near the conclusion of a televised debate on KAKM Channel 7 when she said, “Teach both. You know, don’t be afraid of information. Healthy debate is so important, and it’s so valuable in our schools. I am a proponent of teaching both.”

While Palin says that she has never pushed the creationism being taught in schools, here is this little bit of information:

The Republican Party of Alaska platform says, in its section on education: “We support giving Creation Science equal representation with other theories of the origin of life. If evolution is taught, it should be presented as only a theory.”

And this idea is spreading, causing watchdog groups to be on alert:

The issue of teaching an alternative to evolution has turned into an issue in the current race for governor in Michigan, where Republican Dick DeVos said he wanted to see students exposed to the idea of intelligent design.

Isn’t that what churches, mosques, synagogues and other mythology temples are for?

In 1993 in Alaska, several Board of Education appointees of Gov. Wally Hickel considered adding creation science to the board’s list of recommended scientific concepts. The idea was proposed by a member of the school board who taught at a private Christian school in Fairbanks. It failed on a 3-3 tie, with one school board member absent.

In 2003 a curriculum reform panel recommended leaving evolution out of the state requirements to avoid controversy. Their recommendation was accepted by the state Department of Education, but the state board — which had the final say — reinserted the term.

Current state regulations allow local districts to add their own curriculum beyond the minimum state requirements, said Department of Education spokesman Eric Fry. That would arguably include some form of creation science, he said.

“They couldn’t promote religion, but it’s OK to teach about religion,” Fry said.

Palin’s full quote on the matter is:

“Teach both. You know, don’t be afraid of information. “Healthy debate is so important and it’s so valuable in our schools. I am a proponent of teaching both. And you know, I say this too as the daughter of a science teacher. Growing up with being so privileged and blessed to be given a lot of information on, on both sides of the subject — creationism and evolution. It’s been a healthy foundation for me. But don’t be afraid of information and let kids debate both sides.”

Opponents say rightfully that religion has no place being taught in a science classroom.

Church opposes Reproductive Health Care Act in Philippines

The Catholic church knows of the problems with population growth and poverty, yet they still want people to take no measures (except natural ones) to prevent pregnancies. If they think it is okay to use natural ways of avoiding pregnancy, then that is still interfering with their “God’s plan” by preventing a baby from being conceived, isn’t it? The Church wants to tell poor people to keep having babies that they cannot feed while never proposing a plan as to how to feed and house them. They do not have a plan for overcoming poverty. They never open the Vatican doors to allow the poor to take advantage of the niceties that the Pope and Church officials have there. They just want the people to keep “multiplying” because of the superstitions they believe in.

LINK: Philippines’ first family planning programme faces church hurdles

MANILA (AFP) - In a country where three babies are born each minute and the Catholic Church exerts heavy influence, the long battle for a family planning programme could finally be reaching its climax.

Philippine congressman Edcel Lagman, who has introduced a Reproductive Health Care Act that appears to be gaining widespread support, believes the time has come for the Philippines to take family planning seriously.

“Despite what the church is saying Filipino people, especially the poor, want family planning,” he told AFP in an interview.

“They want to have control over what methods they use and they want the ability to choose without fearing a backlash from the church,” he said.

National surveys by pollsters Pulse Asia and the Social Weather Station have repeatedly shown that more than 80 percent of Filipinos want to have control over their fertility.

The Catholic Church, however, is campaigning against the bill — which must receive the support of the majority of congress and senate members before being presented to the president for her signature.

Some church leaders are threatening to excommunicate legislators who support it, with some saying they might refuse to preside over marriages or administer Holy Communion to anyone associated with the bill.

The Roman Catholic Church is traditionally opposed to any form of birth control, a position reaffirmed by Pope Benedict XVI.

Then there is this nonsense which implies that following the Church’s sanctioned sex that somehow makes one a better citizen and better parent:

“Couples who have the discipline to practice the church-sanctioned natural family planning methods are in possession of true values of life and tend to pass it on to their children. They also tend to be good citizens.

“If there is discipline in the marital bed, then there is discipline in the streets, there is discipline in schools, there is discipline in the government,” he said

An Irish-Catholic family lives behind us. The parents are about my age and they have six children and then their daughter who they must have passed on “Catholic values” to has been pregnant by three different boys, and has three children and all live there in the same house. The father is far from the ideal dad. I have seen him punch his teenage son in the stomach, he is drunk and disorderly much of the time, and he is an all-around jerk who verbally abuses his wife, kids and grandkids. But they have those babies God wants them to have so they are A-Okay in the Church’s eyes.

Then we hear in the news yesterday about Palin’s family problems. While promoting Christian morals and family values, turns out that Palin’s teenage daughter is pregnant. Many conservatives are whining that children of politicians should be off-limits to public scrutiny. However, the actions of the children of evangelical politicians can illustrate that despite their painting themselves as having some sort of superior values than everyone else, they do not.

What irks me about Palin is that she has opposed sex education programs:

Palin herself said she opposes funding sexual-education programs in Alaska.

“The explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support,” she wrote in a 2006 questionnaire distributed among gubernatorial candidates.

And what are McCain’s views?

McCain’s position on contraceptives and teen pregnancy issues has been difficult to judge on the campaign trail, as he appears uncomfortable discussing such topics. Reporters asked the presumptive GOP presidential nominee in November 2007 whether he supported grants for sex education in the United States, whether such programs should include directions for using contraceptives and whether he supports President Bush’s policy of promoting abstinence.

“Ahhh, I think I support the president’s policy,” McCain said.

McCain and Palin funnies

Rebuttal to Pastor Mondo

The following is my husband’s rebuttal to Pastor Mondo Gonzales who I wrote about here: "I won't tell you who to vote for, but. . . "

Of course, the pastors who write this weekly column in our local public paper get all the space they want to write their bullshit each week, but those who write rebuttals only get 400 words, therefore my husband had to cut his original letter in half to even be considered. Regardless, I think it is a great response to Mondo. I don’t know if the New Lenox Patriot will publish the rebuttal, but Pastor Mondo will be getting a copy via e-mail. My bet is that he will boo-hoo religious persecution.

Rebuttal to 8-29-2008 pastor column.

One fact about abortion, not one politician in the USA supports abortion. However, to be against abortion you need to be for health care from conception to grave, affordable housing, political policies that will provide good jobs, free child care, excellent education system, free college, and free public transportation system. Support for the child does not stop at conception. You would also work to stop the death penalty— why kill a person you fought so hard to get born. Peace not War.

Since 40% of all pregnancies end in spontaneous abortion, god must be pretty busy. Since being against abortion and being against raising taxes is at cross purposes for conservatives, how can conception to grave care be provided?

I have not heard of any politician support the “homosexual lifestyle”. What many do support is treating people as people no matter what. Jesus went out and found fishermen to be his disciples and he never married. Jesus’ lifestyle was more gay than homophobe. The stories in the bible point out Jesus reaching out to those who were outcast by the Pharisees. Pharisees are now called Pastors.

Our constitution is supposed to separate church and state. It is a fact that people who get married, get married by the power of the state given to the marriage service provider. Mr. Gonzales, preaching your homophobic prejudices is a form of sexual bigotry.

The article states you are against those who do not keep the clear teaching of the scripture. That means you are against remarried divorcees, working on Sunday, and you agree with putting women away during their period and you support public stonings for transgressions that are listed in the scripture. This list could go on for pages.Those are all clear teachings of the scripture. Do you pick and choose what you want to believe or follow in the scripture?

You believe in a mythological god that has no basis in fact or reason. Your bible can be compared to a comic book. Why a news organization (that is supposed to check its facts) allows a non-factual column to be published weekly is nonsensical, especially one that is filled with bigotry.

"I won't tell you who to vote for, but . . . "

More evangelical political propaganda in our local paper, and once again from Pastor Mondo Gonzales of Crossroads Community Church who I wrote about before concerning this article, “Does archaeology prove the Bible?” And once again he is twisting and turning and interpreting his mythology book to influence the delusional to vote according to how they are brainwashed in their churches.

Who would Jesus vote for?

Gonzales writes, “I have shared all of this to lay a foundation for discussing the upcoming election and whom we as Christians should vote for.”

Then he goes on to say, ” I am not going to tell you who to vote for,”

then contradicts himself with

” but I believe we should vote for the person that Jesus would vote for.”

Then he continues to arrogantly tell how Jesus would vote:

“How do we know whom Jesus would cast His vote for? We can be absolutely certain Jesus would only cast His vote for someone who loves God, not in word or tongue, but in action and in truth.”

*snip*

“I can assure you Jesus would not vote for someone who would ever support a pro-abortion policy, or a candidate who promoted the homosexual lifestyle. He wouldn’t vote for a person who did not affirm that marriage is between one man and one woman, just to name a few topics. How can we know this? The main reason is because the Bible condemns these things as sinful acts before God and Jesus wouldn’t cast his vote for anyone in power who would use their influence to encourage things that violated God’s Word.”

Another arrogant Christian who presumes to know exactly what this ancient dead person would think and do according to assumptions based on the Old Testament writings which states that children who smart off to their parents should be stoned to death, adulterers should be stoned and where it states that if you leave your wife and take another you have committed adultery. They conveniently ignore those things.

They also ignore the fact that nowhere does Jesus write against abortion. Nowhere does he talk against gay marriage and say that it is wrong. He hung out with a prostitute. He never married, had no children, and was followed around by a bunch of fishermen. Jesus, if he had existed, was a liberal…a far-left-leaning liberal who talked about feeding the hungry, helping the poor and a man who did not have a country club church for social gatherings. We never hear from these loonie evangelicals that we should vote for someone who will help feed the hungry, help the poor and those in need of medical care. Because if they said that, then they will be advocating voting for the evil liberal baby-killers. (A good point my husband had was that there are no “pro-abortionists”…pro-choice, but no one goes around saying that all women must kill their babies. It is not a decision that is made lightly, in most cases.)

My husband and I are sick of these fundies in our local paper and their ignoring the fact that this country is a diverse one, that our state is a diverse one and that our community is a diverse one with many varieties of Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindu, Non-believers and more. Our local newspaper prints this local crap on a weekly basis. Let’s see if they will print our response. I seriously doubt they will and will keep you posted.

Fans not allowed to leave seats during singing of 'God Bless America'

During the 7th-inning singing of ‘God Bless America’, a Yankees fan decided to use the bathroom during the little break. That is when he was confronted by one of New York’s “finest” and told he wasn’t allowed to leave during the religious/patriotic song. When the fan told the officer he didn’t care about ‘God Bless America’ and just needed to use the bathroom, two officers pinned both of his arms behind his back and ejected him from the stadium. What’s this country coming to where we are forced by public officers to remain seated for a religious tune at a baseball game? Of course, the police are making up their own story once the legal representatives were called in.

Here is the story and the video:

LINK: Fan Ejected From Yankee Stadium For Bathroom Break

Blasphemous art?

Italian museum defies pope over crucified frog

The Catholics are crying persecution again over what they see as a blasphemous mockery of a symbol of “God’s love”.

The wooden cross was a bloody, gruesome execution device, people! Wake up!

ROME (Reuters) - An Italian museum on Thursday defied Pope Benedict and refused to remove a modern art sculpture portraying a crucified green frog holding a beer mug and an egg that the Vatican had condemned as blasphemous.

The board of the Museion museum in the northern city of Bolzano decided by a majority vote that the frog was a work of art and would stay in place for the remainder of an exhibition.

The wooden sculpture by the late German artist Martin Kippenberger depicts a frog about 1 metre 30 cm (4 feet) high nailed to brown cross and holding a beer mug in one outstretched hand and an egg in another.

Called “Zuerst die Fuesse,” (Feet First), it wears a green loin cloth and is nailed through the hands and the feet in the manner of Jesus Christ. Its green tongue hangs out of its mouth.

*snip*

Pope Benedict, who is German himself and was recently on holiday not far from Bolzano, obviously did not agree.

The Vatican wrote a letter of support in the pope’s name to Franz Pahl, president of the regional government who opposed the sculpture. Pahl released parts of the letter, which said the work “wounds the religious sentiments of so many people who see in the cross the symbol of God’s love”.

Pahl, whose province is heavily Catholic, was so outraged by the sculpture of the pop-eyed amphibian that he went on a hunger strike to demand its removal and had to be taken to hospital during the summer.

“Surely this is not a work of art but a blasphemy and a disgusting piece of trash that upsets many people,” Pahl told Reuters by telephone.

“This decision to keep the statue there is totally unacceptable. It is a grave offence to our Catholic population,” he said.

Art experts defended the work.

“Art must always be free and the artist should not have any restrictions on freedom of expression,” Claudio Strinati, a superintendent for Rome’s state museums, told an Italian newspaper on Thursday.

I think this froggie is amusing, and think it’s even funnier how superstitious people get their panties in such a knot so as to make themselves sick over one person’s artistic expression. When they do this they draw even bigger attention to the artwork. I am sure the artist welcomes their public protests.

So very sad

More evidence that there is no "Intelligent Designer". How heartbreaking for this very poor family in Bangladesh who give birth to this child who has one body and two complete heads. The parents could not afford health care so took him home to die.

Even if he would have lived, his life was doomed to be a circus freak show. 150,000 people swarmed the hospital hoping to get a look at him.

Bangladeshi boy with two heads dies

The boy, named Kiron, was born Monday by Cesarean section and died at home late Wednesday after developing a fever and breathing difficulties, paediatrician KS Alam told AFP.

Kiron had attracted such attention that 150,000 people gathered at the clinic where he was cared for after his birth in Keshobpur, 135 kilometres (85 miles) from the capital Dhaka.

Police were called in to control the crowds and Kiron was transferred to a hospital in nearby Jessore city.

But his parents decided, against doctors' advice, to take him home, Alam said.

America wants Randall Terry to STFU

Randall Terry is back. For those who don’t know or don’t remember, he’s the founder of the radical anti-abortion group Operation Rescue which terrorized abortion/reproductive health clinics during the late 1980s and early ‘90s. As the following article from Americans United states, Terry is an “ardent theocrat, a foe of church-state separation and an all-around rotten guy.”

A Terry comment from 1993 encapsulates his “Christian” worldview.

“I want you to just let a wave of intolerance wash over you,” he said. “I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good…. Our goal is a Christian nation. We have a biblical duty, we are called by God, to conquer this county. We don’t want equal time. We don’t want pluralism.”

And now he has brought his “Xian luv” to the 2008 Democratic convention:

According to news accounts, Terry and 12 others were arrested yesterday outside the Democratic Convention in Denver. His press release in advance of the event said he and other “Catholic and Evangelical Christians will peacefully ‘break the law’ to protest the slaughter of the innocent by abortion, and to call on fellow Christians to reject the Obama/Biden ‘Ticket of Death.’”

Pro-lifer activists like this asshat call on their fellow god botherers to protest abortion, but they never say what they will do for that child once they force the women to have these babies. What about the child after it’s born to a mother who cannot take care of it? What about the child who is born to an drug user? What about the child who would be born with fetal alcohol syndrome? What about the child who is born into some other dire circumstances because pro-lifers forced their mothers to have them? Few of these activists say what they will do for the child once it is born and no longer an infant (if it survives that long). We don’t see this kind of religious activism to call for help for the homeless, those who live in poverty, drug addicts, and others who live in desperate situations.

Many of us know pro-lifers who are adamant about their anti-abortion stance and believe that abortion is never an option. They will vote for the government to take away legalized abortion rights of others, yet what do they do to help children who are born into poverty and poor environments? They go off to their comfortable homes and good food while believing their “God is blessing them” while they spew out their rules they wish everyone else to live by. Most of them do not take their “work” to the inner cities and other areas where there is the greatest need.

LINK: Nightmare On Theocracy Street: America Wants Randall Terry To Get Lost

In the following video, Terry sounds eerily like Scientologist whackadoo Tom Cruise

Randall Terry Gets Owned

Democrats open faith filled church services convention

I never thought I would see the day with the Democrats transforming the Democratic National Convention into an interfaith church service. I am greatly disappointed.

DENVER - At the first official event Sunday of the Democratic National Convention, a choir belted out a gospel song and was followed by a rabbi reciting a Torah reading about forgiveness and the future.

Helen Prejean, the Catholic nun who wrote “Dead Man Walking,” assailed the death penalty and the use of torture.

Young Muslim women in headscarves sat near older African-American women in their finest Sunday hats.

Four years ago, such a scene would have been unthinkable at a Democratic National Convention. In 2004, there was one interfaith lunch at the Democratic gala in Boston.

But that same year, “values voters” helped re-elect President Bush, giving Democrats of faith the opening they needed to make party leaders listen to them.

The result was on display at Sunday’s interfaith service, staged in a theater inside the Colorado Convention Center, and will be evident throughout the convention agenda and on the sidelines.

There will be four “faith caucus” meetings, blessings to open and close each night, and panels and parties run by Democratic-leaning religious advocacy groups that didn’t even exist in 2004 — not to mention protests from religious groups and leaders opposed to the Democratic platform.

And of course no atheist, agnostic or secular humanist on the list of speakers. If the intention was to show diversity amongst the Democratic party and unity of people from all walks of life, then that should include everyone. Unfortunately, to the believers, Democrats or otherwise, a coalition that supports nontheistic views is not welcome. But those who value the separation of church and state still made their voices heard:

In June, the Madison,Wis.-based Freedom from Religion Foundation, a 12,000-member watchdog group for the separation of church and state, erected a billboard near the Colorado Convention Center that proclaimed “Imagine No Religion.” In early August the sign was changed to “Keep Religion Out of Politics.”

During the convention, the foundation will fund mobile billboards asking for church-state separation and broadcasting its view that religion is divisive.

“Faith does not unite us,” Freedom co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor said. “And this is a time when we should be in unity behind our secular government.”

Most liberals still support Obama despite the religious mumbo jumbo he believes in and that is interjected into politics from both sides now, (me NOT being one of them because I do not trust him...but trust McCain even less...what to do,what to do!). One thing I am certain about is that no matter who your support or who is elected, we must continue to make our voices heard that separation of church and state must be upheld and to keep our secular government from slipping towards a theocracy.

LINK TO FULL ARTICLE

Richard Dawkins on purpose, design, and teleology

Humans have an obsession with the belief that we must have to have a purpose and reason for everything. Life doesn't have meaning or purpose except what a person brings to it. As the quote in my profile says, life is without meaning, the meaning of life is what we ascribe it to be. Here is Dawkins talking about the illusion of purpose:

Sunday funny

Grand Spiral Galaxy NGC 1232

click on image to enlargeCredit: FORS1, 8.2-meter VLT Antu, ESO

Explanation: Galaxies are fascinating not only for what is visible, but for what is invisible. Grand spiral galaxy NGC 1232, captured in detail by one of the new Very Large Telescopes, is a good example. The visible is dominated by millions of bright stars and dark dust, caught up in a gravitational swirl of spiral arms rotating about the center. Open clusters containing bright blue stars can be seen sprinkled along these spiral arms, while dark lanes of dense interstellar dust can be seen sprinkled between them. Less visible, but detectable, are billions of dim normal stars and vast tracts of interstellar gas, together wielding such high mass that they dominate the dynamics of the inner galaxy. Invisible are even greater amounts of matter in a form we don't yet know - pervasive dark matter needed to explain the motions of the visible in the outer galaxy. What's out there?